Till Never Do Us Part
by JustASmallTownGirl123
Summary: "Do you want to know something? Even though I am in a great deal of pain and we have no idea when or if we will ever get out of here safely, I would not want to be trapped in an elevator or anywhere else with anyone but you." Tag to EP 9x24.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this little idea came into my head after I watched the season finale and I decided to put it on paper. This story starts when Ziva and Tony are clearing everyone out of the hallway and because I can't wait until next season to find out what happens will continue on from there. I am not sure yet if I am just going to make this a small three chaptered story, or if I am going to turn it into something bigger than that. (Would love to hear your opinion on that by the way) Oh and if any of you are currently reading my story This Is Home I apologize for the delay, I have like fifty ideas running around in my head for the next chapter and I can't get a definite one pinned down, but I'm working as hard as I can and I hope to have it up by tomorrow. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this, reviews are welcome!**

Till Never Do Us Part

Chapter One

"That's everybody, you go Ziva." Tony touched her arm lightly and flicked his gaze back down the hall. He was Senior Field Agent and even though he would much rather be making sure Ziva got out of the building safely, he knew he should do another sweep of the floor.

"No, I am not going without you." She retorted sharply. Her chocolate brown eyes briefly met his emerald green one with a look that was pleading yet fierce and when she tugged on his arm he knew there would be no arguing with her and frankly he didn't want to.

Tony let her lead him down the hall towards the staircase, but when he turned left and began heading for the elevator Ziva stopped short. He had only made it a few feet down the hall before he realized she was no longer beside him and he turned back partially.

"We need to check the elevator." He said in response to the confused look on her face.

Ziva hesitated for a beat, but then nodded and walked back up beside him nonchalantly slipping her small, delicate hand into his larger one. They continued walking, neither bringing any attention to her action as both needed the contact to keep their calm façade from cracking. When they made it to the elevator Ziva reached out, punched the button, and the doors opened immediately to reveal an empty elevator car.

"Alright, it is empty. Let's get out of here." She took a step back in the direction she had come but wasn't able to go any further; Tony was rooted to the spot and he had her hand in a firm grip. "Tony, what are you doing? We need to go."

"The stairs are going to be crazy and overcrowded, why don't we just take it?" The doors started to close and he shot his hand out to keep them open.

Ziva worried her bottom lip with her teeth, considering the dangers of both options and decided they were equally risky, but since they were already right beside one of them it made her choice easier. She nodded her head and let him lead her into the elevator.

Ziva reluctantly pulled her hand out of his grasp to hit the button for the bottom floor. The elevator jerked and they began descending. Neither spoke, the only sound was her fingers nervously tapping against the side of her leg as she watched the yellow light slowly move down the row of buttons as they made it closer to their destination. She thought briefly about how six years ago she would barely have blinked an eye at a bomb threat. But, she thought looking over at Tony, a lot of things had changed in the past six years; the least of which being her feelings for the man standing beside her.

They seemed to be at a standstill at the moment as they were both single; Tony had quit sleeping with any girl that walked by and Ziva had come to her senses and seen Ray for who he really was. Neither was willing to make the first move after all these years of waiting and while some might say it was Rule 12 that was holding them back, if you knew them well enough it was easy to see that they were both scared of venturing from the easy, bantering friendship they shared into unknown territory.

The elevator car had just made it down to the fourth floor when it suddenly jerked, sending Ziva flying into Tony. He leaned against the wall briefly, his arm instinctively wrapped around her waist and hers encircled his middle just before they fell to the ground. Ziva landed on top, her left hand fell on his right as she curled into him, the hand on her back coming to rest on her head protectively.

It seemed like it had been a lifetime when the elevator finally stopped moving, but in reality it had only been a few seconds. Ziva kept her eyes shut tight and focused on the sound of Tony's heart beating fast against her ear and waited until his pulse had slowed down to relax and get her own heart to stop racing.

"Zi?" Tony whispered, his hand rubbing up and down the back of her head. "You okay?"

She slowly opened her eyes and found his worried gaze boring into her, "I think so, are you?"

"Yeah, but you need to stay really still for a sec, 'kay?" He moved his right hand from where it had been resting under hers and started to reach behind her back.

"What are you doing?" She didn't move a muscle as ordered, but was confused as to what he was doing and why he was doing it.

"There is part of a pane of glass from the light on your back, I don't know if it cut you, I can't really see, but either way I need to get it off." Tony carefully positioned his hand on the glass so he wouldn't get cut when he pulled it off of her. "Alright, on three; one…two…three."

Ziva yelped out in pain as the piece of glass was pulled not just off, but out of her back. She hadn't felt any pain at first, hadn't even known it was there, but now that the glass was gone her back felt like it was on fire.

"It was in your back then?" Tony questioned, trying to keep his voice steady.

She nodded her head and squeezed the hand that had come back to rest under her own. "It hurts Tony."

He kissed the top of her head and squeezed back, "I'm sorry and what I need to do next is probably going to hurt even more." He paused briefly, trying to rein in his nerves before continuing. "Zi, I'm going to have to slide you off and take off your jacket to see how bad the damage is."

She took a deep breath as a few tears trickled down her cheeks and shakily responded, "Okay."

"Okay, one…two…three." Tony carefully slid her off his stomach and onto the floor.

Once she was flat on her stomach he got to work, first shrugging of his jacket and balling it up under her head so she was a little bit more comfortable. He went slowly when removing the jacket, taking extra care not to cause her anymore pain. Once it was safely removed, he threw the bloodied piece of clothing to the corner of the elevator. Tony took in the torn black shirt on her back and decided the only way to get a really good look at the injury was to rip it the rest of the way open. He asked for her permission to do so and she merely nodded, clenching her jaw against the pain that came from his action.

Tony bit back a gasp as his eyes traveled over the wound. The upper and very bottom parts of her back appeared to be completely unharmed, but almost smack dab in the middle was a huge gash that ran all the way across her back. He took a few seconds to compose himself before bending down closer to inspect the wound. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any little pieces of glass imbedded in her flesh and the wound didn't appear to go very deep but it was bleeding profusely. Tony hurriedly began unbuttoning his shirt and folded it up to where the sleeves started to create the most amount of absorption as possible.

He gently placed the white material over the gash, "Can you lift your stomach up so I can slide the rest under?"

Ziva didn't answer, but did as he asked and Tony quickly slid one of the sleeved under her stomach, bringing the other one down to it so he could tie them together. This time he did not warn her of his next move or how tightly he was going to pull the shirt together because he knew if he did she would tense up and it would only make it hurt worse. She let out a strangled cry and his heart panged.

"Shh, shh. I'm sorry, I know it hurts." He waited till he was sure the wave of pain had passed and grabbed her jacket from the corner and laid it over her back so she didn't get cold.

"Tony?" Ziva whispered so softly Tony almost missed it.

"Yeah Zi?"

"Could you…lay down beside me?" The voice that came from his partner was so shy, small, and scared that for a second he wasn't even sure it was her that had asked.

"Of course." He started to lie down, but something near the button panel caught his eye. He reached up, first pressing the 'Open Door' button and when nothing happened he hit the 'Emergency' button which would not only send a signal to the fire department, but also make the light outside of every entrance blink red to alert anyone still in the building of their situation.

"It looks like we could be here for a while." He stated before lying down next to her.

Ziva sighed, a single tear trickled down her face, and she squeezed her eyes shut, "We should have taken the stairs."

Tony brushed a hand over her hair soothingly, "Don't worry; everything is going to be fine."

She opened her eyes and bit her lip against the sob that was trying to escape, "Promise?"

Tony scooted closer, cradling her head against his chest, being careful not to jostle her, and placed a kiss on top of her head, "I promise."

They stayed in that position for some time, comfortable in each other's arms. Ziva's breathing began to even out and just when Tony thought she was asleep and was about to get a little rest himself she shifted her head so he was staring into her eyes.

"Do you want to know something?" Confused, he simply nodded his head. "Even though I am in a great deal of pain and we have no idea when or if we will ever get out of here safely, I would not want to be trapped in an elevator or anywhere else with anyone but you."

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So wow, 15 reviews, 1,210 hits, 12 favorites, and 54 alerts all in the span of three days. I am absolutely speechless. Thank you all so much, I didn't expect this story to get that large of a response and I am absolutely grateful. To thank you I worked as fast as I could on this next chapter, I hope you like it, and thanks again!**

Chapter Two

Tony stared up at the cracked, mangled ceiling of the elevator while he traced soft patterns on Ziva's upper back with his right hand. She had been asleep for about an hour, her arm draped across his bare chest, leaning against his side so that her back didn't touch the floor. If his watch was still working correctly they had been stuck in the elevator for almost five hours and there had been not one sign that someone had begun the process of getting them out. He had been letting Ziva sleep for an hour at a time, waking her up to make sure the pain had not increased and that she didn't slip into coma.

He checked his watch, she still had fifteen minutes left so he continued to trace his fingers lightly over her back knowing that sleep was the only way she could escape the pain. Tony continued to study the ceiling and moments in this very elevator began to flash through his mind.

_I'm tired of pretending._

He'd meant that when he said it three years ago. He was tired of pretending that he didn't have feelings for her, that there wasn't something more than friendship between them, and she had agreed. But once again he had backed away from the line they had been tip-toeing and related their situation to 'a dinner-theatre for one' and angrily stormed off.

_Hey, we're gonna get him, okay?_

Last year the Port-to-Port Killer had wreaked havoc on the whole team, the devastation coming to a climax when he killed Mike Franks. Tony hadn't really seen her confession in the elevator of not being able to take it anymore coming, he did his best to comfort her. Then when his knuckles brushed over her face and his hand came to rest on the side of her head, he'd thought briefly about kissing her. But the elevator doors opened and Tim and Abby stood their embracing and Tony viewed it as the Universe telling him that neither of them were ready yet, that it just wasn't the right time.

_Cherish each other, that's all I'm saying, every day. _

Detective Burris seemed to have said just the right words to them only a few months ago. The end of that day had left them in a complicated situation; Ziva was heartbroken and hated herself for trusting Ray blindly and Tony was hurting for Ziva but at the same time was happy CI-Ray was finally gone. But when they were told to cherish each other, it seemed that the muddled up mess they were in had cleaned itself up and when their eyes met the look they shared was meaningful.

Now they were in the elevator once again, maybe even for the last time, and Tony wasn't about to leave things between them uncertain if these were the last moments he would share with her. He started to plan out what he was going to say; he might have written down 'Tell her' on his bucket list, but he hadn't exactly figured out how. Tony had only been mulling over his options for a few minutes when Ziva began to stir and mumbled something that sounded like 'gum shoe crew'.

He brushed a few strands of brown hair that had come out of her ponytail away from her face, "What was that again?"

She stayed quiet for a moment then slowly blinked her eyes open, "I said, love you too."

"As in me?" he questioned, extremely confused.

"Yes. Have you not been tracing the words 'I love you' on my back for the past thirty minutes?" Ziva answered, closing her eyes and laying her head back down on his chest.

Tony focused on the motion his finger had been making and found she was right, damn his subconscious and his plans, it looked like he was just going to have to wing it. "I guess I have. I didn't even know I was doing it."

Ziva looked back up at him, her eyes suddenly very nervous, "You did mean it, right?"

He chuckled quietly and kissed her forehead, "Course I did Zi."

"Say it out loud." She requested in all seriousness.

Tony smiled at her, "I love you Ziva."

"Good." She smiled brightly and leaned closer to his face. "I love you too, Tony."

She closed the gap between their lips and for the first time they really kissed. It was slow and passionate and meaningful, not at all like the staged, fake kisses they had shared when they were undercover. It was beautiful and when they finally had to break for air neither parted willingly.

Tony brought his left arm to rest behind his head, "Why is it that it always takes some kind of disastrous event for us to advance in this relationship?"

She contemplated his question for a few seconds. "I think...I think it is because we have both been hurt too many times by the ones we love and we do not want to mess up the relationship with the only person who has always been a constant in our lives. But then when something happens and we are not sure if we can go any longer without telling each other how we feel, we confess our feelings little by little." Ziva responded.

"That seems about right." He said after a minute of mulling her statement over and remained quiet for a few seconds before suddenly blurting, "I wouldn't elope."

She wrinkled her nose at him confused, "What?"

"Earlier, when I said I didn't know what I would do if I had to deal with everything that came with a wedding, you asked me-"

"If you would elope." She finished remembering the conversation.

"Yeah and I wouldn't." he repeated, playing with a piece of her hair.

Ziva raised her head so she was looking him in the eyes, "They why did you say all those things?"

"It was part of that game we always play with the invisible line drawn between friends and something more." He explained holding her gaze. "I wanted to see how close we could get, if you would back off first or if it would be me, but when you said 'Elope?' for some reason it gave me hope. Made me think that you would be willing to do that if it was with me."

"Well now that I know you were fibbing we most certainly will not be eloping." She teased but then sobered, the smile she gave him full of love. "But if that was really what you wanted, then I would be okay with it."

"We will certainly not be eloping? That sounds to me like a proposal Zee-vah." He grinned mischievously at her.

She shrugged, "Maybe it was."

"I would say yes, but I think we should probably get out of this elevator first." At his words the reality of their situation crept back into both of their minds once again and the mood considerably darkened.

"Tony, what if we don't get out?" Her eyes were filled with tears and his heart broke into a million pieces at the truly fearful look on her face.

"We'll get out Zi, I promise we'll get out." He kissed her softly, not able to find any other way to reassure her.

"Tony, I am serious, what if we do not walk away from this?" She repeated persistantly.

He sighed rubbing his hand over her hair, "If we don't make it then I am glad I got to spend the last hours of my life with you Ziva David."

She let the tears she had been holding back for some time fall and whispered, "I love you Tony DiNozzo."

"I love you too." He began drawing patterns on her back once again, alternating between 'I love you' and random patterns. "You can go back to sleep if you want, you've been awake long enough."

"Only if you get some sleep as well." She said already beginning to nuzzle her head into his shoulder.

Tony knew that she wouldn't surrender if he tried to argue with her so he nodded. "Alright."

It didn't take long for them to fall asleep as they were both tired from the stress of the situation, but what could only have been half an hour later they woke to a loud screech. Tony instinctively held Ziva tighter to his body and she squeezed her eyes shut as he placed a hand on her head. The ear-splitting sound of metal scraping against metal continued on for the next few minutes and Tony was starting to wish the damn thing would just drop already, when there was suddenly a woosh of air and a large rectangular whole appeared in the top of the ceiling.

"You okay down there DiNozzo?" called an unmistakable voice.

Tony's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Boss?"

"Yeah, it's me DiNozzo, now would you answer my question." It was an impatient order and Tony did his best not to laugh out of pure joy.

"I'm fine, but Ziva got cut up pretty bad on her back." He called back.

"What is going on Gibbs?" Ziva asked confused. "Where are you?"

"The elevator is stuck between the third floor and the fourth. You're only a few feet away from the fourth so you're gonna have to get on the roof and climb up from there." He yelled back.

"Boss, Ziva's in no condition to be climbing up there." Normally he knew she would have protested but it seemed this time she was in too much pain to argue.

He didn't respond right away, but they could hear a quiet conversation taking place above them, "I'm comin' down DiNozzo. You'll have to hand her up to me and then I'll hand her up to one of the EMT's. Then you can climb up."

"Got it Boss." He untangled himself from Ziva and crouched down in front of her. "This is going to hurt."

"I know." She took a deep breath, preparing herself. "Okay, I'm ready."

Tony carefully slid one arm under her knees wrapped the other one above her back and slowly lifted her up. He didn't miss the sharp intake of breath caused by the movement and kissed her forehead, "Just twice more and then you'll be safe."

"Okay." She whispered quietly. "I love you."

"I love you too." He looked up into the darkness of the elevator shaft, "You there Boss?"

A set of hands was lowered into the whole, "Yeah, go ahead."

Tony carefully lifted her up into Gibbs waiting arms and once he was sure his grip was firm he let go. Gibbs pulled her up with ease and stood, backing up a few steps to the uncut side of the elevator. He turned to the entrance to the fourth floor and stared at the EMT with a look in his eyes that clearly said 'I'll kill you if anything happens to her' then proceeded to hand her up and let out a small sigh when the EMT placed her on a stretcher and gave him a thumbs up.

Gibbs turned back to the whole in the roof and placed a hand in, giving Tony something to grab onto for leverage. "Your turn DiNozzo."

The younger agent gripped his hand firmly and slowly pulled himself onto the roof. "What took you so long boss?"

Gibbs didn't hesitate with the head-slap, "Gee DiNozzo, I dunno, maybe that?"

He pointed up and Tony gazed up at all the opened elevator entrances. "Oh."

"If you take the elevator during a bomb threat ever again I'll kill you." Gibbs turned away and began climbing back up.

Tony watched him as he went, noting where the footholds were within the support beams of the elevator shaft. Gibbs had just pulled himself onto the carpeted floor when the metal structure beneath Tony's feet suddenly lurched. He looked down, then up, his frightened gaze met Gibbs' for the faintest of moments and then there was a loud screech, the floor shook and Tony disappeared from sight.

**A/N: Yeah, I suck I know, but rest assured this story is not over yet and I am a big believer in happy endings ;) Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey everybody, sorry this took me a little longer to upload then the other chapters. I rewrote this like three times trying to get it perfect for you guys, so I hope you like it :)**

Chapter Three

"Tony!" Ziva screamed launching herself off the stretcher and past the medics that attempted to subdue her.

She tried pushing past Gibbs to get to the elevator shaft, but he stood rooted to the spot blocking her way, "Looking'll only make it worse, Ziver."

"I do not care!" She yelled sidestepping him.

He moved with her and gripped her arms tightly, his steel blue gaze stared her down and if you looked closely enough you could see the cloud of grief hovering in his eyes. "But I do."

Ziva pushed at his chest, "Gibbs let me go!"

"No." He whispered quietly and when she began pounding on his chest in protest, he still didn't release his hold on her.

"You do not understand! He promised me that we would both get out! He promised so he can't be-" she choked on the word that should have followed and suddenly the anger was draining out of her body, though grief soon took up its post inside her and when she looked up at Gibbs her eyes were filled with tears. "He can't be dead. I love him and he-he promised…"

Ziva couldn't get another word past the lump in her throat and succumbing to her grief she began to sob. Gibbs laid a gentle hand on the back of her head and held her tightly against him. She cried into his shoulder, feeling as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest and thrown down the elevator shaft along with Tony.

After a few minutes when her sobs had turned into small hiccups, anger took hold of her again and she whispered hotly, "When they find Dearing, his is mine."

"Mind if I get a few punches in?"

Ziva's eyes shot open at the voice that did not belong to Gibbs and her gaze swiveled over to the entrance to the elevator shaft just in time to see a shaky hand slap down on the floor. While Ziva stayed rooted to the spot, her emotions once again switching back and forth from shock to disbelief, Gibbs and a couple of the EMTs sprang into action. In mere seconds Tony had been pulled up and was now lying on the floor off to her right. She watched everything in a daze and felt completely numb, not wanting to hope that what she was seeing was true only to find that it was just her mind playing a cruel trick on her.

Ziva couldn't see Tony through the crowd of people surrounding him but after a few minutes of him lying on the carpet there was a bit of a commotion and the medics began backing away from him. Confused she took a hesitant step forward, but didn't go any further as she didn't know what was going on and at that moment she was too scared to ask. But Gibbs saw her out of the corner of his eye where he was still crouching down by Tony and waved her over.

Gibbs stood up and met her halfway, "He won't let 'em touch him till he sees you." He whispered in her ear, a half-smile gracing his lips.

Ziva approached Tony slowly, kneeling down when she reached him and when her eyes met his, her brain finally settled on one emotion. Complete and utter happiness.

"Hey." He grunted out taking in a shallow breath, grimacing at the pain it brought him.

Tears sprung in her eyes as she stroked the side of his face with her hand, "You scared me to death, I thought you were-"

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, "Did you really think you were going to get rid of me that easy?"

She laughed, brushing at the tears that fell from the movement, "I love you."

"I love you too." He tried to grin at her but he could tell it turned out as more of a grimace.

Ziva stroked her thumb across his temple, "You are hurt _ahava_. Now that you have seen me will you cooperate so that they can take us to the hospital and patch us together?"

Tony looked at her quizzically, "I'm not even sure how you came up with that one, but I'm going to guess you meant to say patch us up."

Ziva smiled, placing a kiss on his lips she stood up and gave him a stern look, "Be good."

"Course." He grunted back winking at her.

Ziva backed up and let the EMTs take care of him, even letting one of them lead her back to the stretcher she had previously been seated on. Eventually they were both loaded onto separate ambulances; much to their chagrin, and were admitted to Bethesda Hospital. Ziva was able to get in and out of the ER quickly; the wound wasn't severe enough for surgery but did require several stitches and a wrap of gauze. Tony on the other hand had suffered four rib fractures, a broken arm, and a concussion from his jump off of the elevator and onto the shaft wall and had to be admitted overnight for safety purposes.

Once everything had calmed down Gibbs had informed them of the status of the team. Thanks to Gibbs quick action Abby hadn't received anything more than a scratch. McGee and Vance who had still been on the squad room floor when the bomb went off received minor injuries, McGee went a couple hours without being able to see due to his proximity to the explosion and Vance received a cut on his arm large enough for a few stitches. Gibbs had also received word about Ducky who had thankfully been found by a young couple who had been walking down the beach shortly after his heart attack had occured and was admitted to a hospital down in Florida. Ducky seemed to be doing well, he had demanded to speak to Gibbs, eventually launching into one of his 'This reminds of the time when…' stories.

Ziva was currently sitting with Tony in his room, Gibbs and the others had gone home a while ago, but she had stayed not wanting to be any further than two feet away from him at the moment. It was almost midnight and for the past half hour she had been trying to get comfortable in the plastic hospital chair where she had taken up residence beside Tony's hospital bed. He had been asleep for some time and when her eyelids had eventually grown heavy she finally decided that some sleep was probably a good idea, but the injury on her back plus the uncomfortable chair were not doing her any favors.

Ziva sighed in exasperation, admitting defeat and muttering a few curse words in Hebrew she propped her arm on the chair and leaned her head against her hand. It might not be the most comfortable way to sleep, but she had slept in far worse conditions.

"Would you just come here already?"

She opened her eyes, "Tony? I thought you were asleep."

"Well I was, until you started making as much noise as a bull in a china shop." He chuckled and began scooting over to the other side of the bed, "Come on Zi, plenty of room for both of us."

Ziva smiled and carefully climbed into the bed next to him, "Thank you."

"My pleasure sweetcheeks." He pressed a kiss to the back of her head and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She was quiet for a while and at one point he thought she had fallen asleep then she asked quietly, "Tony, why on earth would a bull ever be in a china shop?"

He laughed whole-heartedly, "It wouldn't, but you're not supposed to focus on the weirdness of the situation, but rather imagine the noise that an animal that big would make surrounded by a room full of glass plates and stuff."

Ziva pondered the scene for a moment and then nodded her head decidedly, "I see."

Tony grinned widely, "I love you Zi."

She turned in his arms so they were facing each other and smiled, placing a kiss on his lips, "I love you too Tony, I don't think you'll ever know how much."

She snuggled into the crook of his neck and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to him. They fell asleep that way, only a few minutes later, content in each other's arms and just before sleep completely overtook him, a single thought crossed Tony's mind. Only a few short hours ago this, holding her in his arms, telling her he loved her, all would have been impossible. Maybe a bomb wasn't exactly the ideal way to make them both come to their senses, it certainly wasn't normal, but their relationship had never been normal and that was exactly the way he liked it.

**A/N: Yay! Tony is alive and well! The next chapter will be the epilogue and the last chapter of this fic and I can't thank you guys enough for reading, reviewing, alerting, etc. it means the world to me. **


	4. Epilogue

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long! If you are reading This Is Home you already know that I kinda just got in a rut with writing, but I went on vacation, had a chance to relax and got back in the mood to write. Thanks for sticking with me even though it's been a month and I hope you enjoy this last chapter!**

Epilogue

_3 years later_…

Ziva stared down at the infant in her arms, smoothing down the dark brown curls on her head over and over again. She had only known this small little girl for barely an hour and already she was mesmerized. Ziva stole a glance at Tony and if the look on his face said anything it was that he too was wrapped around their newborn daughter's little fingers and not just figuratively. His pointer finger was clenched in one of her small fists and she smiled brightly as he moved her little hand around. Ziva just watched them for a while, thinking about how they had gotten there.

A few months after the attack on NCIS, Harper Dearing had been caught, and things were finally starting to get back to normal, although there was a slight shift in the team's dynamic; Tony and Ziva had officially started dating. Gibbs had thrown rule 12 to the wind, but made sure he was clear on the fact that keeping their relationship out of the office was non-negotiable. They managed as best they could and after almost a year of getting used to being in a relationship and openly expressing their love, Tony popped the question.

It wasn't some big elaborate production like you see in the movies, which coming from Tony was rather surprising. He'd actually been very spontaneous and that was what she had loved most about his proposal. They had just been sitting at the kitchen table in her apartment eating dinner when suddenly the words, 'Marry me.' came out of his mouth. That weekend they picked out a ring and six months later they were married.

The baby in her arms hadn't been planned. They hadn't been trying to have a baby, but they hadn't been trying not to have a baby. Somewhere along the line they had just decided that they weren't going to over think it and just let nature decided when it was time. It had, and that morning at 6:49 AM on May 15, 2015 their daughter had been born. As the date ran through her mind again Ziva's eyes widened.

"Tony, do you know what day it is?" she whispered.

"Mmm? Um…Wednesday?" He answered distractedly.

"No, I mean the date." She corrected looking at him, trying to see if he understood what she was getting at.

"I think it's the fifteenth, why does it…" Then his eyes widened and she could see him connecting the dots.

Ziva smiled, looking down at their daughter then back up at Tony, "Three years ago today we were stuck in an elevator."

He chuckled, "Three years ago I told you I loved you."

"Three years ago you almost died." Tears sprung up in her eyes and she inwardly cursed her hormones.

Tony kissed her, brushing away at the tears that fell from her eyes, "Yeah, but three years ago-"

"I saved both your asses."

Both of their gazes shot to the door where they were surprised to find Gibbs, leaning against the door frame, his lips turned up in a smile.

"Hey boss." Tony greeted with a smile. "Abby send you?"

"Yeah, nurse came out and she said I should go first." He took a step into the room, hands stuffed in his pockets. "Can't stay long though, she threatened to kill me if I was gone longer than fifteen minutes."

Ziva laughed lightly and nodded to one of the chairs on her side of the bed, "Come sit."

He took the chair and once he was settled Ziva moved her daughter's grip from Tony's finger and carefully placed her in Gibbs arms. She squirmed a little, but quickly settled against the older man's chest and went back to sleep.

"Gibbs, meet your granddaughter, Liora Kelly DiNozzo." She absentmindedly grabbed Tony's hand as she spoke their daughter's middle name, unsure of how he would react.

Gibbs was silent for a while, staring down at the baby girl in his arms. When he finally looked up there was a smile on his face and his eyes were filled with tears, "Beautiful name."

Tony kissed Ziva's head and she grinned brightly as Gibbs went back to studying their daughter, "Tony picked her first name. It means God's gift of light."

"Good job, DiNozzo." He chuckled, but when he shifted his gaze back to them, they could both see a hint of doubt in his eyes. "Not sure I'm really Grandpa material."

Ziva smiled reassuringly at him, but Tony was the one to speak up, "You've kept us in one piece all these years, even though we both came to you a bit cracked and rough around the edges. If you can handle us and our pasts, then I think you'll do even better with a Granddaughter that's brand new."

Ziva turned and gave him a brief, but loving kiss, then turned back to Gibbs, "He is right. I think you will make a wonderful Grandpa."

While they were talking, Liora had wrapped her fist around Gibbs finger and he moved it around slowly, "Guess there's no harm in trying."

He glanced up at them and found they were both grinning at him. Gibbs returned the gesture with one of his rare, full blown grins. They sat in silence for a while, soaking in the moment until Liora began to fuss and Gibbs handed her back to her mother and father. He stood, kissing his granddaughter's forehead softly and then did the same to Ziva. He held out his hand for Tony to shake, but instead Tony stood as well and pulled Gibbs into a hug.

When they parted, Tony sat back down on the edge of the bed and Gibbs went to the door, "I'll send Abs in next."

"Okay." They both murmured, already distracted by their daughter once again.

Gibbs remained in the doorway for a few more seconds and quietly whispered, "Thank you."

She had barely caught his words, and Ziva's eyes flitted up to meet his and she whispered back, equally quiet, "You are welcome. We love you, Abba."

Gibbs winked at her and then left, closing his eyes briefly as he walked down the hall, wanting to ingrain the image of his kids' happiness into his memory forever. He was back in the waiting room too quick for his liking and sent Abby on her way before taking a seat next to Ducky. Three years ago disaster had struck his family, but that same event had led to this, everything had led to this, and in this moment, for the first time in years, Gibbs felt at peace.

_The End_

**A/N: So it kind of turned into a Gibbs moment at the end, but who doesn't love those? **

**Thanks for reading,**

**Katie**


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